Diabetic Diet And Recipes

Eating well as someone with diabetes is often difficult because there are so many different sources of information that contradict each other. Most try to exclude some macronutrient – usually either fat or carbohydrates. The low carb diet is very popular now, and many companies are making products with few “net carbs”. Some of these ideas are misleading, however, and make managing diabetes a little more complex.

The American Diabetes Association provides great information on eating a healthy diet. For people with diabetes there are a few things that are important to keep in mind:

1) It’s not the kinds of carbohydrates that you eat; it’s the number of grams
In recent years, doctors and researchers have shown that sugar is not the cause of diabetes. In fact, sugar does not even need to be avoided. Researchers showed that a piece of pie could have the same impact on blood sugar as a potato (if the number of carbs is the same in both).

2) A healthy diet for someone with diabetes is a healthy diet for most people
Despite what is discussed above, you should not go eat cake at every meal and replace fruits and vegetables in your diet. You also want to consume healthy carbs. Eating healthy carbs, such as fruits and vegetables, will be lower in saturated fat and will provide essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that you will not find in processed foods. This is not unique to people with diabetes: No person should be replacing fruits and vegetables with cakes at each meal.

3) Key: replace, don’t add
It is always difficult for many Americans because there is so much fast food, chocolate, candy, and other gooey morsels available. People with diabetes (and this should really apply to all people without diabetes too) can add these treats to their diets if they reduce other things. For example, you could have a brownie with 30 grams of carbohydrates and 250 calories instead of two dinner rolls that have roughly the same number of carbs and calories. You will feel much better if you replace instead of add the treats to your diet.